otto's war room banner

otto's war room banner

Saturday, February 11, 2006

President Hugo Chavez kicks out missionaries from jungle outposts


According to The Wichita Eagle, Feb. 10, 2006:

“CARACAS, Venezuela -- U.S. missionaries accused by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of espionage have been forced from their remote outposts among jungle tribes by a government order, the final pair leaving Thursday after years of evangelical work.
The New Tribes Mission flew those two out of the rain forest to regroup with other missionaries in the eastern city of Puerto Ordaz. There they will decide what to do next: leave the country or continue with a legal battle seeking to overturn the government's order to expel them from indigenous areas by Sunday.”

Chavez is wise to push them out. These groups are conservative Evangelicals that seek to destroy the local culture of these people and reinforce conservative governments. There impact on these countries is almost always negative.
Most of the group's missionaries are Americans.
To get a good idea of how those groups interfere I local politics, get a copy of In the Presence of My Enemies, By Gracia Burnham.(See F5). I this book, Burnham and her husband are captured by local Muslim guerrillas, Abu Sayyaf and US Reprehensive Todd Tiahrt (R KS) pushed for the blotched military operation where two of the three hostages were killed and as many as 45 Philippine government soldiers (according to Gen. Roy Cimatu of the Philippine Army, or AFP). An unknown number of rebels were also killed. Burnham made her politics known when she campaigned for Tiahrt, during his reelection bid for the US House. Burnham's book has been used by the present Republican administration and members of Congress as a tool to inspire even more military meddling in the Philippines. the US has sent more than 700 troops to help train the Philippine military, according the New York Times.
Tiahrt also made irresponsible and ignorant statements that the guerrillas in the Philippines were nothing more than street gangs. He ignored the historical relationship between the US and the Philippines, which includes the US making the islands a colony from 1901 to 1945. The US crushed a guerrilla uprising by Filipinos trying to win independence. Their leader, Emilio Aquinalda, was captured and killed, even though he had helped the US in its war against Spain. The US also supported President Marcos after he declared martial law in 1972 and set up a dictatorship.


No comments: